Not for the faint-hearted

Whinging older people

Clic on this Facebook site if you want a bit of a laugh. There's a fair bit of swearing.

Measured - a great cup of coffee

beans, weighing scales and ground coffee in the plastic container

The magic numbers are 60gm of ground coffee and 1 litre of water. So measure the capacity of your cafetiere and do the maths. We learned this at Darkwoods coffee. Please clic on link for a reminder of the January visit this year.

So investment needed: scales, grinder, beans, cafetiere. But if you like your coffee, it's worth it.

Another weekend at Hadrian's Wall - part of magic RL festival

Corbridge, a sleepy up-market market town. Rollers and Bentley Continentals. 
Blue Ball for sports coverage, Angel for a meal and Wheatsheaf to sleep and breakfast.
Stickers in all the shop and cafe windows - Dementia Friendly - which was reassuring.
Our first two evening meals were massive. We then had a picnic in one of our rooms.

It's a wild lonely place. The wall walk was wet and cold, but short. Great to get about purely by bus - the AD122 - and use our passes. Change at Hexham, quietly wait in waiting rooms or at bus stops. The locals in the queues asked us where we were from. Attractive accents, though our landlord needed at interpreter. They all had good ideas for us, so our initial plans were soon modified into better and hopefully more enjoyable plans.

Sunday was Newcastle on the bus. Fartown won. Catalans subsequently sacked their coach.

My phone camera stopped working. I left my library book propping open our bedroom window. They will post it on. I won't have to go up on the train like last time to recover property. Small hiatus at the checkout - can you deduct our deposit? "We never ask for money" "Oh". Otherwise I'm speechless. The childbride had mixed it up with another deposit.

On the way home from 'the fish that passeth all understanding' at the Angel, we two boys catch some sport in the Blue Ball unbeknown to the ladies, who are window-shopping, so we thought. They proceeded quickly to the Wheatsheaf where they were locked out. It is in the process of being sold and is only open for B&B. They knock on the door, and Del, the landlord, pokes his nose out of a second storey window. He lets them in "They'll be in the pub". I am unable to recollect how we were greeted back later that evening. But they don't let go, do they? We were the toast of the staff at breakfast and any time the childbride had the opportunity to have a chat with someone.

Incidentally, whilst in the Blue Ball, we met two couples from Stalybridge who were Fartown supporters. Before Fartown they supported Swinton. Someone had to.

The lady who is posting my library book was more than pleasant when I rung Tuesday morning. "Yes, I remember you". How could she forget?

Spiderman's granny tackles an ice cream cornet

Scarborough again, singing and mooching

Tasteful memorial in the Town Hall gardens

A busy weekend for superheroes and their families

Driver experience at Elvington, York. A Maclaren for spiderman's dad. He enjoyed it, but the spectator facilities weren't great.
  Next door is the Yorkshire Air Museum & Allied Air Forces Memorial. Worth a visit even for non-aeroplane fans. Some glorification of war, but also a fitting tribute to everyone who fought and supported the air battles, particularly bomber command. And there is a NAAFI. Great sections on Barnes-Wallace and Neville Schute (Norway, before he wrote books). Didn't get round it all - our attention spans are half our ages.
  Geoffrey was surprisingly humble, entertaining and informative. Goodness me the drinks are expensive.

Even superheroes must learn their basic life skills

Down at the Clock Cafe, South Cliff, Scarborough, grandad gives a tutorial on the basics of managing a dribbling ice cream cornet.
It's a life skill which spiderman will need.

Young concert fan, SF reader and London exile loses cherished ticket

Uncanny isn't it? Virtually the 9th anniversary of the Kooks' Brixton gig. They are touring as we speak, most of the UK dates sold out.

It started by joining the local library. I'd just gone to bed and opened up a book by Ian Banks' (Transition) when this ticket fell onto the bedclothes. 

Had the ticket been hiding in the book since 2008, waiting 9 years for another reader?
Had the book once graced Brixton library, when a Banks' and Kooks' fan attended a local concert and used the stub for a bookmark? Actually it's not a stub, but a fully intact ticket that was too big for the scanner. So whoever never attended.

A standing ticket in the stalls for £20. £30.25 this year for a standing at Ally Pally, London. Not a massive increase by any stretch of the obscene ticketing scene.

Wikipedia states 'The Brixton Academy, officially called O2 Academy, Brixton, is one of London's leading music venues, nightclubs and theatres. It has hosted a range of leading rock acts since becoming a music venue in 1983. The maximum capacity is 4,921 (3,760 standing downstairs; 1,083 seated and 78 standing in the circle), alternatively the all-seated capacity is 2,391.'

So standing more than doubles sales. Presumably the lager people sponsored the venue in 2008.

Anyone else not heard of the Kooks? Formed in 2004 at Brighton. Wiki says they are 'Self-described "whores", The Kooks have drawn on a number of varied sources to create their sound. Listing The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Chris de Burgh among their influences ...'

This from Utube  I confess I won't be paying 30 quid to stand.

Still the mystery. Young concert fan, SF reader and London exile loses cherished ticket.